Posted on 03/26/2012 8:54:28 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Japan is to deploy surface-to-air missiles in central Tokyo in readiness for North Korea’s planned rocket launch, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said Monday.
The siting of an anti-missile battery in the densely packed capital city would be in addition to facilities on the southern island chain of Okinawa, Tanaka told lawmakers.
“We are working on procedures to deploy the Patriot in the Tokyo metropolitan area, acting on precedent,” Tanaka told upper house members, referring to the PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defense system.
“We are also preparing to deploy the Patriot in the Nansei (southwestern) islands including Okinawa,” as the second stage of North Korea’s rocket is expected to fly over Japan’s southernmost island chain, Tanaka added.
The nuclear-armed North has announced it will launch a rocket in mid-April to put a satellite into orbit, a move the United States, South Korea and other nations see as a pretext for a long-range missile test banned by the U.N.
Tanaka said he was readying Japan’s missile defense systems to shoot down the rocket if it looked set to fall on the country, a move similar to measures Japan took in 2009 before Pyongyang’s last long-range rocket launch.
In 2009, Japan ordered missile-defense preparations, including the siting of one of its PAC-3 systems at Ichigaya, next to the defense ministry building in central Tokyo.
The preparations by Japan, regularly the target of North Korean barbs, come as world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama are meeting in Seoul for a summit officially focused on nuclear terrorism.
Obama urged North Korea’s leaders Monday to “have the courage to pursue peace,” while South Korea has said it is also preparing to shoot down the North Korean rocket if it strays into the South’s territory.
The 2009 rocket launch, which North Korea said was also aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, passed over Japan without incident or any attempt to shoot it down.
Shoot. It. Down. ($10 says they won’t, again.)
Isn’t that pointless?
At what altitude does a MIRV warhead in an airblast explode?
How high can a Patriot go?
Tokyo is a pretty crowded place.
Wonder where they’ll park these rockets ?
日本 ピング (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
I was thinking of the roof of Takashimaya’s...
Unfortunately, we succeeded in doing to post WWII Japan what the Allies had tried to do to Germany after World War I. I think we would have been better off with a stronger ally in the region.
“How high can a Patriot go?”
Thank you. The Japanese are going ballistic (pun intended) over this, bordering on the hysterical.
The Nork missile would be 60 miles overhead and on its second stage by the time it passed over Japan, which it is very unlikely to do. No Patriot would reach it.
The Norks have declared that they will be launching on a southern route that would pass between Japan and Okinawa, way too high for any Patriots.
We do have some AEGIS cruisers that could knock it down right off the S Korean coast.
Aegis SM-3s have kill vehicles that are not aerodynamic and are incapable of intercepting anything in the atmosphere.
And current SM-3s do not have the ability to intercept an ICBM in ascent phase, and can’t reach the altitude one flies at in midcourse.
See slide 15:
http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2011IAMD/Pandolfe.pdf
The SM-3 Blk IIB can get an ICBM in ascent, but those won’t IOC till 2018 at best.
So there is absolutely nothing we or the Japanese have that can shoot down this launch unless it has an early malfunction and falls towards Japan, OR it is aimed towards Alaska - the GBIs there would have a chance.
The hysteria has gotten even worse:
The PAC-3 system will be placed adjacent to Defense Ministry HQ in Ichigaya (Tokyo). The Japanese are going to put a Patriot battery in the parking lot next to their “Pentagon”.
I am so sure they want to launch a missile from there, LOL.
“We raunch patriotu and stoppu Koleans shooting at Japan Tenyo!”
You must rememeber that the last Korean shot offended the kami and caused the last horrid earthquake and tsunami!
The Koreans are shooting at the kami of Japan.!
Very bad!
A pleemtib stlike is bettah!
To spank the monkey here (i.e. whip Kim Jong Un’s “Happy Birthday Grandfather Kim Il Sung” Taepodong-3’s mother scratchin’ as*) we need a plausible territorial incursion. That will only occur from the South Korean’s perspective. That means they need to shoot it down if it in any way goes over the various South Korean islands just off the coast of North Korea, and they could reach it I believe. The only other solution is to fire at errant, offcourse and threatening reentry fragments of it, once they/it came down near Okinawa,Japan (if they did go in that direction) but it is more bluff than anything else. However, all the more impetus to develop a system to shoot these sons of bitches down at such high altitudes and rapid trajectories, something which is not possible right now. Let’s see what the NOTAMs are coming out soon, any warnings by DPRK to international maritime or aviation organizations. You can bet Cobra Ball, Rivet Joint and KH-11B (or “Son of KH-11”, i.e. KH-12), etc. are watching closely. I personally would love nothing more than the target to be destroyed ON THE LAUNCH PAD by our teams, but that of course, would be a) an act of war and b) very risky, might not get the team back, and c) it is not October with poll ratings that suck, so Obama would not risk it.
BTW, NK has assembled the 3 stage missile on the launch pad and finished fueling connection to the gantry.
Let’s hope for an explosion on the pad.
A lot of "ifs", "ands", or "buts", I know. But considering the explosive power contained in a fully-fueled rocket stage and the failure rates associated with booster development, perhaps a not-unwarrented concern.
A pretext? If putting a satellite in orbit doesn't qualify as a long-range missile test then what the heckity hook does? Sounds like a step beyond to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.